Alcohol Dependence

1. The behavior that Jerry demonstrates that appear to be abnormal include consuming alcohol daily in large amounts, memory loss due to alcohol consumption, not recognizing that he could have an alcohol addiction, lack of involvement in activities outside of his home, and acting confrontational or defensive when asked about his alcohol consumption. Jerry also lies to his doctors and family about how much alcohol he drinks and despite knowing that alcohol is contributing to his weight problem and health issues, he continues to drink daily. Although Jerry's behavior may seem abnormal to most people, I think his behavior is fairly normal for someone who has an addiction problem.

2. A. Jerry's behaviors that meet the criteria for substance abuse include; being able to consume large amounts of alcohol without appearing to have a hangover (substance dependence, tolerance) or to appear intoxicated (tolerance), consuming more and more alcohol as he gets older (substance dependence), memory loss while drinking (tolerance), continuing to drink alcohol regardless of conflict with family members and knowledge that it is affecting his health in a negative way, continuing to drink after alcohol contributed to his weight gain and heart attack, which led to Jerry losing his pilot license. The last three fit into the criteria from the DSM which state "significant social, work-related, or recreational activities are reduced or voided because of substance abuse, substance abuse continues despite knowledge that it is causing physiological or psychological problems, and continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or made worse by use of the substance". (Durand & Barlow, 2010) For example, Jerry and his wife fought all the time over his drinking but he continued to drink even after they got divorced and Jerry's son has asked him several times over the years about his drinking. Jerry also denies that he has a drinking problem even after losing his flying license, arguing with family, and having serious health problems.

B. Jerry has been experiencing the symptoms that meet the criteria for substance dependence since his late teens, early twenties when he started going to college. It was in college that he earned the reputation for having stamina when it came to drinking alcohol and he would always appear under control regardless of how much he had to drink.

C. Jerry's behaviors that meet any of the criteria for substance dependence include; his increased drinking over adulthood, his drinking daily probably to avoid feeling the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, his drinking in large amounts on a daily basis even when he plans on not drinking. Jerry has also had significant impact on his social, work-related, and recreational activities due to alcohol. For example, he lost his pilot's license and has lack of motivation to do anything outside of his